Treesearch

Rhe amount, type, timing, and location of visitor use all have profound effects on the quality of the natural resources and visitor experiences in wilderness. Therefore, it is important to monitor the flow of visitation, in space and over time, and predict how distributions are likely to change in response to both management actions and factors that are not subject to managerial control. In some situations this is easily done. However, the ease of monitoring and predicting use declines as size of area increases, complexity of traffic flow increases, and the degree to which traffic flow is...

Scientists assist protected area managers by developing information and knowledge that can be used to better monitor and manage recreation use and its impacts. Most recreation management decisions have both a descriptive and an evaluative component. There is widespread consensus that science is well suited to discovering, synthesizing and applying descriptive information. This paper provides an overview of some of the most significant contributions of science to visitor monitoring and management. It covers the related scientific purposes of explanation, causation, prediction and assessment....

Duff water content is an important consideration for fire managers when determining favourable timing for prescribed fire ignition. The duff consumption during burning depends largely on the duff water content at the time of ignition. A portable duff moisture meter was developed for real-time water content measurements of nonhomogenous material such as forest duff. Using circuitry developed from time and frequency domain reflectometry (TDR and FDR) technologies, this sensor measures a change in frequency that is responsive to the dielectric permittivity of the duff material placed in a...

We collected prey remains from 25 Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) territories across Arizona from 1977 to 1988 yielding 58 eyrie-years of data. Along with 793 individual birds (107 species and six additional genera), we found seven mammals and nine insects. In addition, two nestling peregrines were consumed. We found a larger dependence upon White-throated Swifts (Aeronautes saxatalis) and birds on migration in northern Arizona, while in southeastern and central Arizona average prey mass was greater and columbiforms formed the largest dietary component. In northern, central, and...

Wilderness managers are often faced with difficult and complex tasks. One such task is fulfilling the legal mandate of the 1964 Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577) to provide opportunities for use and enjoyment of wilderness while protecting and preserving the wilderness character of the area. The ideas of use and enjoyment and wilderness character are expressions of societal values for wilderness, but we lack a full understanding of what these ideas mean. As a result, it may be difficult for managers to evaluate the success of their accomplishments as well as some of the far-reaching...

Effects of recreational pack stock grazing on mountain meadows in Yosemite National Park were assessed in a 5-year study. Yosemite is a designated wilderness, to be managed such that its natural conditions are preserved. Studies were conducted in 3 characteristic meadow types: shorthair sedge (Carex filifolia Nutt.), Brewer’s reed grass (Calamagrostis breweri Thurber), and tufted hairgrass [Deschampsia cespitosa (L.) Beauv.]. Horses and mules grazed experimental plots at intensities of 15 to 69% utilization for 4 seasons. In all 3 meadows, grazing caused decreases in productivity. The mean...

Fire management, and forest and rangeland fuels management, over the past century have altered the wildland fire situation dramatically, thus also altering the institutional approach to how to deal with the changing landscape. Also, climate change, extended drought, increased insect and disease outbreaks, and invasions of exotic plant species have added complications to fire management on public and private lands. In an effort at a national campaign to deal with the overall issue of fire management, eight Federal and nongovernmental organizations met in Santa Fe, NM, for 4 days in May 2004...

The Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577) established a National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) to be administered “for the use and enjoyment of the American people in such manner as will leave them unimpaired for future use and enjoyment as wilderness.” To provide for the use and enjoyment of these areas while preserving their wilderness character, it is important to study and monitor wilderness recreation visitors and the impacts they have. Some people state that The Wilderness Act mandates that recreation impacts not be allowed to increase following wilderness designation (Worf...

Monitoring population status of rare or elusive species presents special challenges. Understanding population trends requires separating signal (true and important changes in abundance) from noise (normal temporal and sampling variation; e.g., Block et al. 2001). This is particularly difficult when small numbers or elusive habits make it difficult to obtain precise estimates of population parameters (Thompson et al. 1998:68). We conducted a pilot study to evaluate a sampling design proposed for monitoring populations of the threatened Mexican spotted owl (Strix occidentalis lucida; USDI...

Part of the diversity of a forest is the variety of agents that can kill trees. These agents differ in the nature, magnitude, and patterns of their impacts on forest resources. Diseases, insect pests, and other small-scale disturbances are commonly assessed on the basis of their impacts on timber production. Tree mortality usually means reduced volume of living stems. Consequently, forest pathologists and entomologists have traditionally maintained a negative view of these disturbances.